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The early Persian empires of the Achaemenid and the Sasanid, their imperial regions and their lasting traditions, have long dictated our understanding of historical developments in Iran. Contemporary historians writing about these empires have focused almost exclusively on the political history of the empires’ power holders, while lower-class and other “ordinary” people have been almost entirely absent from these accounts. Taking on such mainstream, nationalist-influenced histories, Early Persian Empires looks at how the Achaemenid and Sasanid empires are represented in contemporary Iran, and it asks how these representations are used for political ends and what place this heritage has in Iranian culture today as well as what possibilities this heritage might hold for progressive, political resistance.